Clinton Ally Knocks Claire McCaskill Over Sexual Assault Bill
BuzzFeed reports:
At a fundraiser for female senators and candidates on Friday, Susie Tompkins Buell paused to say a few words about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s military assault bill — and to break partisan ranks to criticize a top Democratic woman who didn’t support it: Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Buell, the California-based co-founder of Esprit and the North Face, is one of Hillary Clinton’s closest friends and one of the party’s top donors. Between campaigns for Clinton, John Kerry, and Al Gore — and organizations like Media Matters and Democracy Alliance — Buell has given millions to Democratic causes. She hosted 10 female senators and two candidates in San Francisco on Friday afternoon at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Before introducing Gov. Jennifer Granholm at the event, Buell thanked the attending senators for supporting a year-long campaign by Gillibrand, the freshman senator from New York, that would have made sweeping changes to military sexual assault policies. The bill failed, with five votes short, last Thursday. McCaskill, a Armed Services Committee member who sponsored an alternative bill, was the only woman in the Democratic Senate caucus to vote “Nay” on the measure.
